- History Research Group
- Centre for Law, Society and Popular Culture
- Westminster Development Policy Network
About me
After a history degree at Cambridge (1984) I undertook my doctoral thesis on religion and politics in inter-war Britain at Queen Mary University of London, completing in 1989.
I then spent a year as a research fellow at the Institute of Contemporary British History, writing an award-winning bibliography of post-war Britain. From 1989 until 1999 I was Director of this Institute. I have been a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society since 1996. In 1999-2000 I was on a Fulbright scholarship as visiting professor of British history at Westminster College, Fulton Missouri.
On my return to the UK I taught history and politics at Queen Mary University of London until my appointment as Reader in History at Westminster in October 2012. I have been Professor of History and Policy at Westminster since November 2016, where I chair the University of Westminster Press editorial board.
I have published extensively on religious, political, constitutional, diplomatic and social history and edit the journal National Identities, which I co-founded in 1999. Recent publications include the two co-authored reports I have produced with Arup on Queering Public Space and related work on the history of statues. I am probably best known for editing Harold Macmillan's diaries and my next book will be a co-edited collection on Bollywood and Indian national identity.
I am transgender and my pronouns are she/her.
Teaching
I taught for Queen Mary University of London, Royal Holloway, Bayes Business School at City St Georges, Drew University (New York), Midwestern State University (Texas) and Westminster College (Missouri) before my move to the University of Westminster in 2012. I also taught Public Policy for many years for the Hansard Society. I will be teaching that subject again on the new MA Public Policy and Management at Westminster which launches in 2026.
I also teach subject in the History and History & Politics undergraduate programmes at Westminster. These include a first-year module on the history of protests, second/third year special subjects on the history of the Middle East and on Darwin and Degeneracy, and a third year special subject on the Cuban Missile Crisis.
I also teach on the MA in Museums, Galleries and Contemporary Culture and the MA in Religion, Law and Society.
I have 17 PhD completions on subjects including social attitudes to money, Margaret Thatcher and Neoliberalism, women's cricket, intelligence history, female explorers, religion and national identity, Britain and Europe, the US Civil War and Regency celebrity culture.
Currently I have 11 PhD students, including four CDA/CDP students working in association with RUSI, the London Transport Museum, the National Railway Museum and the Museum of the Home on aspects of museum history. Other subjects currently supervised range from internal colonialism to trans healthcare. I am also supervising post-doctoral fellows working on Kim Philby and Northern Ireland and the British constitution.
I would welcome PhD students looking at the heritage issues, British political and constitutional history, national identities, the relationship between culture and politics from the 18th century onward or transgender histories.
Research
Current research ranges from histories of arms control and of thanatourism to memorialisation and inclusion in public space and on public transport. Meanwhile, my next monograph will be a study of British prime ministers and their strategies.
RECENT GRANTS
I held a Sassoon Fellowship at the Bodleian Library, Oxford in 2024 to work on Harold Macmillan's papers.
With Shaun Wallace (Arc of Triumph) and Amanda House (Westminster City Archives) I am currently involved in a project on queer black nightlife in London since the 1970s with funding from the Queer Heritage Collections Network.
Publications
For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.